Transcript Slide 1
Cultural Competence:
Providing Sensitive Health Care in the
Pursuit of Quality Improvement
Bourne Lecture
St. George’s University
Grenada
February 2008
Fred M. Jacobs, M.D., J.D.
Executive Vice President
Director, Quality Institute
Saint Barnabas
Health Care System
Cultural Competence
…the ability of systems to provide care to
patients with diverse values, beliefs &
behaviors including tailoring delivery to
meet patients’ social, cultural & linguistic
needs. The goal is a system & workforce
that delivers the highest quality care to
every patient—regardless of race, ethnicity,
cultural background or English
proficiency.
Cultural Competence in Health Care: Emerging Frameworks
& Practical Approaches Betancourt, Green & Carrillo 2002
Principals of Cultural
Competence in Health Care:
Define culture broadly
Value clients’ cultural beliefs
Recognize complexity in language
interpretation
Facilitate learning between
providers/community
Involve community in addressing needs
Collaborate with other agencies
Professionalize staff hiring & training
Institutionalize cultural competence
--CDC
Problems in communication due
to cultural differences between
patients & MDs often contribute
to disparity in the understanding
that patients & MDs have
regarding the cause of disease &
the effectiveness of available
treatments
Doctors Talking with Patients/ Patients Talking With Doctors:
Improving Communication in Medical Visits (Roter, Hall; Westport,
Conn. 1992)
Linguistic Competence
The ability to communicate
efficiently & effectively directly or
through an interpreter with
patients that speak a different
language
Salas-Lopez Cultural Competency:
Making the Case, Facing the Challenge
UMDNJ-NJ Medical School
Cultural Competence & Quality
Improving patient-physician
communication is an important
component of addressing
differences in quality of care
that are associated with patient
race, ethnicity or culture
Weissman, J; Betancourt, J. Campbell, E.
Resident Physicians’ Preparedness to Provide
Cross-Cultural Care JAMA 2005
Cultural Competence & Quality
Unexplored socio-cultural
differences between patients &
physicians can lead to patient
dissatisfaction, poor adherence to
treatment & poor health outcomes
--IOM Unequal Treatment :
Confronting Racial & Ethnic
Disparities in Health Care,
2002
Changing Demographics
Demographic changes anticipated over the next
decade magnify the importance of addressing
disparities in health status
Immigrants & other groups experiencing poorer
health status are expected to grow as a
proportion of the total U.S. population
A national focus on disparities in health status is
particularly important as major changes unfold
in the way health care is delivered & financed
Population Demographics
NJ
US
White persons, percent, 2005 (a)
76.6%
80.2%
Black persons, percent, 2005 (a)
14.5%
12.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native persons, 2005 (a)
0.3%
1.0%
Asian persons, percent, 2005 (a)
7.2%
4.3%
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, 2005 (a)
0.1%
0.2%
Persons reporting two or more races, 2005
1.3%
1.5%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, 2005 (b)
15.2%
14.4%
White persons not Hispanic, 2005
63.2%
66.9%
(a) Includes persons reporting only one race.
(b) Hispanics may be of any race, so also are included in applicable race categories.
U.S. Census Bureau State & County QuickFacts
Health Disparities in NJ
HIV/AIDS incidence 16Xs higher for
blacks & 5Xs higher for Hispanics
Asthma hospitalization 3Xs higher for
blacks & 1.8Xs higher for Hispanics
Black infant mortality 3Xs white rate
Obesity 2Xs higher for blacks &
Hispanics
Blacks 2Xs more likely die of Diabetes
Strategic Plan to Eliminate Health
Disparities in NJ 2007 NJDHSS
Barriers Among Patients, Providers
& U.S. Health Care System
Lack of Diversity in leadership & workforce
Systems of care poorly designed to meet the
needs of diverse patient populations
Poor communication between providers &
patients of different racial, ethnic or cultural
backgrounds
Cultural Competence in Health Care: Emerging
Frameworks & Practical Approaches Betancourt,
Green & Carrillo 2002
Rationale for Teaching
Cultural Competence
Patients require a clear
understanding of
medical information &
instructions to give
consent & follow
treatment protocols
Delivering appropriate
care requires an
understanding of patient
complaints & concerns
Culturally Competent Systems Must
Make on-site interpreter services available in
settings w significant populations of LEP
Develop culturally & linguistically appropriate
health ed materials & prevention interventions
Collect & make public race/ethnicity/language
data to monitor disparities & QI
ID medical errors due to lack of CC
Provide quality care & QI measures for diverse
populations
Require large purchasers to include CC
interventions as a condition of contract
Cultural Competence in Health Care: Emerging
Frameworks & Practical Approaches Betancourt,
Green & Carrillo 2002
Culturally Competent Health Care
Providers Must:
Be made aware of the
impact of social & cultural
factors on health beliefs &
behaviors
Have the tools & skills to
manage these factors
appropriately through
training & education
Empower patients to be
more active partners in
medical encounters
Cultural Competence in Health
Care: Emerging Frameworks &
Practical Approaches (Betancourt,
Green & Carrillo 2002
NJ: Strategic Plan to Eliminate
Health Disparities 2007
Asthma, Cancer, Diabetes, Infant Mortality, HIV,
Heart Disease, obesity
Identifies gaps in access & programs
Benchmarks to improve health of racial/ethnic
minorities
Curriculum for medical interpreters
Cultural competency training
CBO Workshop on interpretation
U.S. Health Disparities
Higher Death Rates
• African Americans: Breast, Prostate & Lung CA;
DM; Infant Mortality; HIV/AIDS
• Hispanic Americans: DM;
Hypertension/HIV/AIDS
• Asian/Pacific Islander Americans: TB; Stroke;
Cervical Cancer
• American Indians/Alaska Natives: DM; Infant
Mortality
Health Care Disparities
Minority & Multicultural populations have
an increase of
• Potentially avoidable procedures like
amputations
• Treatment of late-stage cancer
• Avoidable hospitalizations
• Untreated disease
Fiscella, K et al. JAMA 2000;
283: 2579-2584
Health Care Disparities
Minority Populations Receive Fewer:
• Cardiovascular procedures
• Kidney & bone marrow transplants
• Orthopedic & peripheral vascular
procedures
• Antiretrovirals for HIV infection
• Pain medications
Fiscella K et.al. JAMA 2000; 283: 2579-2584
Strategies to Overcome Linguistic &
Cultural Barriers
Bilingual/Bicultural providers
Bilingual/Bicultural health workers
Professional Interpreters
Written Translation Materials
Implementing Policy @ state level
2,000 Final Year Residents Reported
little Cross-Cultural training beyond
medical school:
56% How to ID patient mistrust
50% Address patients from differing cultures
50% ID Relevant religious beliefs
48% ID Relevant cultural customs
Weissman, Betancourt. Resident Physicians’
Preparedness to Provide Cross-Cultural Care
JAMA 2005
2,000 Final Year Residents Reported
being unprepared to provide crosscultural care to patients who:
Mistrust U.S. healthcare system (28%)
Use alternative medicine (26%)
New Immigrants (25%)
Health beliefs @ odds w western medicine (25
%)
Religious beliefs affect treatment (20%)
Resident Physicians’ Preparedness to
Provide Cross-Cultural Care
Weissman, Betancourt, JAMA 2005
Barriers to effective communication
Patient factors:
Lack of self-efficacy regarding managing one’s own
health
Language barriers
Low health literacy
Physician factors:
Unintentional racial/ ethnic bias in interpretation of
symptoms, patient behavior & medical decision making
Lack of understanding of cultural disease models
Expectations of visit differ from patients’
--Cooper-Patrick, Gallo. Race, Gender & Partnership in
the Patient-Physician Relationship JAMA 1999
U.S. HHS Office for Civil Rights
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964;
Policy Guidance on the Prohibition
Against National Origin
Discrimination As It Affects Persons
with Limited English Proficiency
(“Revised HHS LEP Guidance,” issued
pursuant to Executive Order 13166)
Federal Register: August 8, 2003 68 (153): 47311-7323
NJ’s Cultural Competency Law
First state law requiring cultural competence ed
Medical Schools must provide cultural
competency training as condition of diploma
MDs must take 6 hours CME for license renewal
“The public interest in providing quality health
care to all segments of society dictates the need
for a formal requirement that medical
professionals be trained in the provision of
culturally competent health care as a condition of
licensure to practice medicine in New Jersey.’’
NJ’s Cultural Competence Law
NJ State Board of Medical Examiners
has authority to develop regs &
implement new law
BME invited experts in the field
BME expanded original law to include
requirement that MDs take 6 CME
credits as a condition of license
renewal
Other State Legislation
California: Civil Code §51
“Continuing Medical Education on Cultural
Competency”
AB 1195—Chapter 514, effective July 1, 2006
www.aroundthecapitol.com/Bills/AB_1195
Washington State: “Requiring Multicultural
Education for Health Professionals”
2006 Senate Bill 6194S, signed into law
March 27 , 2006
www.washingtonvotes.org/2006-SB-6194
NJ Initiatives to provide CC
Resources to Diverse Populations
State, hospitals, LHDs, grantees & providers
must standardize statewide racial/ethnic data
collection
2 hospital demo projects to train bilingual
staff as medical interpreters
@2,500 Communication Boards given to
hospitals & FQHCs
Spanish portal on OMMH website
5 Principles to Address Health
Disparities in Quality:
Must be recognized as a quality problem
Relevant & reliable data
HEDIS & other performance measures
should report rates by race/ethnicity
Population wide monitoring should
incorporate adjustment for race/ethnicity
Link payment to race/ethnicity &
socioeconomic position of enrolled
population
Fiscella, Franks, Gold. Inequality In Quality;
Addressing Socio-Economic, Racial & Ethnic
Disparities in Health Care; JAMA, 2000
IOM REPORTS
Unequal Treatment:
Confronting Racial and
Ethnic Disparities in
Healthcare
In the Nation’s Compelling
Interest: Ensuring
Diversity in the Health
Care Workforce
Patient Safety: Achieving a
New Standard for Care
Crossing the Quality
Chasm: A New System for
the 21st Century
Although the social class, education
& ethnicity of patients cannot be
changed, providers behaviors
might change if both they & their
patients become more aware of
how these characteristics intrude
into the supposedly neutral
provision of medical care
--Doctors Talking with Patients/ Patients Talking With
Doctors: Improving Communication in Medical Visits
(Roter, Hall; Westport, Conn. 1992)